New Years Appetizers

So, my idea for appetizers on New Years, stems from a beloved food…jalepeno poppers. I love those things and saw some recently at the store. I just HAD to turn the package over to look at the calories and I couldn’t buy them. I really wanted to, but at 100 calories per popper, I knew I would have to workout WAY too long to make it worth it!

So, in looking at the appetizers in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book, I found something I thought I could improvise with the same flavors! Here is the original recipe:

It would be a fun experiment to make puff pastry, but I have watched many cooking shows and many have talked about what a laborious process it is to do so. SO I used frozen. It is a perfect choice. Maybe one day, with more time, I will try it out! Pepperidge Farm worked great for today!

To feed my desire, I made two different fillings for my rissolettes. One jalepeno/cream cheese and one with bacon. I figured that even if the 1st was not good, bacon would be a hit, because, it is well…bacon!

While puff pastry is thawing, make your fillings:

Jalapeno Cream Cheese filling: (this will make 1/2 a recipe if puff pastry)

3/4 pkg. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat…it was great!)

1 jalapeno, finely diced (I took out the ribs and seeds, it was VERY mild. If you want hotter leave them in)

Combine the ingredients until is holds together. Add more mayo if necessary.

Rissolettes

1 pkg Puff Pastry

Filling of choice: either option above, or you could use leftover meat chopped up with season salt, crab meat with cream cheese, browned sausage, or cheese

Roll out puff pastry until the creases are no longer visible. Cut out in circles of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Put about 1 t. of filling onto each circle. Fold in half, dab a little bit of water onto half of the circle and crimp. Put on a cookie sheet and keep in a cool part of your kitchen (if you are not baking right away or making ahead, put if the refrigerator). Bake at 400 for about 12-15 minutes until browned on top. (Most likely they will “pop” open, which I looked at as nice so my guests could see which flavor they were eating). If you like a surprise, crimping with a fork should eliminate the “pop”.